Ichor of Thy Ichor
by Flamist.Rika
Summary: Plagued by strange memory-like dreams, Shao Kahn decided with the help of Skarlet, he can capture whatever he being he is sharing these dreams with and absorb their strength, believing he will have enough power to make even the Elder Gods submit. However, when he finds himself in a different world, he needs to decide if the reward is worth the hassle.
1. Prologue

**Ichor of Thy Ichor **

**Prologue**

Last night, he had another dream… maybe it was a vision. It was not his, it did not belong to him, but he saw it. He saw greenery: forests of strong, thick trees and their strangely intertwined-but-never-touching, crown-shyness existence of thick foliage; lakes of crisp, crystal clear water that slept undisturbed; fields of heavy, thriving vegetation. He saw through someone else's eyes. How did he know? Because his eyes could not zoom in across such vast, lushly landscaped down to the smallest beetle. Whoever he saw through- or with- could but there was an overwhelming feeling of solemn acceptance. Something was going to happen… he could hear the lands whispering for him to leave them behind, the wind begged him to travel like a desperate lover, and the skies steadily promised good conditions. These lands, where ever they were? They did not fear him… they lived for him. Their breath was his breath, and his lungs made this world thrive… this fact was not spoken because he didn't need to speak it. This being he embodied was one with the land. They were born from the all-devouring lava of its center, molded by the clay and river soil of its water beds, decorated in its soil and its vibrant colors. They were connected and he had never felt the way he did in these dreams, as he did in his life. _"Your Excellency."_ He played the audience as this being turned towards the soft voice, seeing a woman. Then he felt it… love. Burning like hellfire, this figure walking towards them was part of them. They were mated… that's what he felt this being felt. They were one for this lifetime and for every lifetime after that. _"The war is not going well… the Empress has told me to summon you to the front lines."_

"No." He said firmly and defiance welled up in him as he felt… dirty, wrong, contaminated. _"I… I am just observer-"_ Their mated woman came to them and touched their face, giving him a proper look at an unnamed woman he had seen one too many times in these visions. She had coppery-red hair that burned like the sun, and warm blue-eyes of the winter solstice. This woman he had come to think of affectionately as 'The Summer Woman' for she was fierce and passionate- just like he liked them. "Ja'Vale, please… do not ask this of me." He heard this borrowed body say as the somber melancholy overcame him. Whatever strength this being had, it was immense but they did not wish to use it. They could conquer and demolish whole worlds but they did not want this strength… they merely wished to watch the world unfold. "I care not for their wars and their ways… do you not hear me? Do you not feel my heart, kin to yours? Leave them be… let them wallow in their own failures and demise."

_"We are duty bound, even if you broke your chains long ago… the Empress will not have your Juvakahs' disloyalty without blood."_ The fire-haired woman said and anger quaked through him and his borrowed body as they took the woman's face in their hands,

_"My fury would be long and deep if they raised a hand to any of you... Juvakah. I would write our bond into their blood memories, for generations to come, so they would never breathe in my presence for fear of history repeated."_ This being said and he took the words to heart, even as they parted and the fire-haired woman walked off but he looked at himself in the reflection of waters nearby- He saw vibrant blue eyes, rimmed with black.

**_I feel you, Outsider… I'll find you._**

Then, he woke up in his own bed, in his own body, in his own room.

He sat up and looked around his room, wondering where the place was that he dreamed of and put a hand to his head. Who were those people? Whose memories were those? There was a knock on the door and he called out for the person to enter as he pulled the bed sheets over his waist and legs, watching a red-haired female come into his chambers and shut the doors behind her. It was not the same female from the dreamscape… this one was an orphan he had picked up off the streets. "Are you well?" She inquired and he nodded, "What is it?"

"The dreams have become more… vivid." He said as the woman walked closer, "This time, I felt what they felt… their sorrow, their melancholy, their struggle…"

"Their weakness?" The woman asked and he looked at her,

"No. Something else." He said and sighed, "Check my blood once more." The woman agreed and put her hands on either side of his head and he felt it. The invasive prying of something else but he stayed calm and still for her to do her work. After twenty minutes, she removed her hands and reported she had found nothing. No changes, nothing out of the ordinary. "I see." The woman awaited other orders as he looked at her, "Leave me." He said and the woman left as he waited for the door to shut before he got to his feet and went to his bathroom, running a hand down his face to try and wake himself up before running a bath for himself. The fog of sleep cleared and the memories lingered a few moments longer before the hot, welcoming waters cleansed the fragments away. His day was mostly uneventful and without Earthrealm-based interruption, so he was left to deal with the paperwork and writing his approval on things he honestly could have foregone but his title was Khan so he needed to do both sides of his duty. He was firm with his people as he needed to be, swift and brutal with his justice as he was expected and pleased to be, but it was his nights that now troubled him. He would not say 'fear' but perhaps admit to himself that his nights now made him 'uneasy'. Those dreams that plagued him had come for some time now had seemed to grow stronger from his minute times of 'weakness'. Those where he slept.

When they first came, the dreams were fleeting- a small portion of his sleep. Now, they were greedy and hungry. He slept longer now- longer than needed and wanted. His strength barely returned since his sleeping was no longer restful, his temper no longer tempered and he was troubled. His magic made poor opponent and even poorer shield against the dreams that wordlessly overpowered his spells. They cared not for his resistance, they accepted happily his begrudging submission. Tonight would be different- when night fell he declared to himself he would not be sleeping in an effort to cease the terrors that plagued him. "Excellency, allow me to try and keep them at bay." Skarlet, the woman who came to check on him that morning, bade and he agreed to let her take his blood and see what she could do. The first day he timed how long he would stay up after one last night of restless sleep.

That night, his dream from the other being's eyes? It was of fire and screams. When he looked down, he saw bodies of the recurring characters in this dream; the Summer Woman, a blonde-haired woman, and a navy-skinned man. They were dead and this borrowed body shuddered and quaked with rage and anger, shared between him and this other being- _"You can't do this!"_ A woman screamed and he turned to his right, looking up from the bodies at them. She was dressed in a gaudy, red-and-gold outfit but her vibrant red curls were long and untamed like flicks of fire around her- _"You are the strength of the crown- you cant turn your powers against us!"_

_"You claimed the lives of my Juvakah with your war of greed… __**you**__, the embodiment of the Holy Empire, have betrayed __**ME**__. Now? I shall bequeath to you, your just desserts, as you have always wanted from me. You will live in fear of my wrath for eons to come."_ His borrowed voice declared as fear and horror filled the audacious woman's face, the feel of power unleashing itself from within him filled him with a deep, sadistic pleasure that he quite enjoyed- but this borrowed body was filled with disgust and disappointment as their body moved to protect the bodies once so dear to them, to fully face the woman as she raised a large metal shield and a sword.

_"Today, the Twelfth Dragon will denounce the Holy Empire as an ally and announce them as an enemy to all Dragons."_ With their words, flames erupted forward- black flames of a void black with flecks of blue- and obliterated the woman then vengefully splashed against the surroundings and the ground beneath them. From glimpsed it had been marble or some similar almost pure white, elegant material with tall columns that held aloft a beautiful, ornately painted dome ceiling with huge windows of stained glass but the flames devoured everything like acid and what they did not lap up, the flames' heat drank up. They could feel the warming air but it didn't hurt them, even when this being contemptuously smashed an arm through one of these stained-glass windows to hasten the demise of the building. The arm was covered in scales, clear and reflective… mirrors. Their thick, muscular arm was scaled with mirrors and at the end of their wrist was a thick hand of five digits- each ending with a two-foot-long talon as black as his own nails. Was this being… an actual dragon?

Then, he woke up, finding himself panting, warm, and suddenly… vacant of those extra surges of adrenaline and power. His heart was racing but he was at his prime. Were these still dreams or truly memories of something that still lived? Imagine the power he, Shao Kahn, could possess if he could find the creature and make it not only his Champion, bu a source of his power to amplify his own means? Earthrealm would submit in a matter of moments. Shao Kahn would have no parallel in any realm- perhaps even Raiden would fall to those Black-and-blue flames. The Elder Gods would bow to him… but where would he find such a creature? "Another dream, Excellency?" Skarlet asked from across the room as she walked in with a tray of food for him,

"Yes… Skarlet, I have found it." Shao Kahn said as he sat up in bed and she set the tray down over his lap, standing at his bedside as he looked at her, "These dreams, I'm certain they are a connection to something far superior in strength. Something that, should we be able to enslave it, would provide me with unlimited power so that Earthrealm and the Elder Gods will no longer keep me from my conquest over the realms." She nodded as Shao Kahn looked at his food but he was too absorbed in the idea of more power, "Perhaps with Blood Magick, we could lay a trap…" He looked at Skarlet, his ever-loyal servant. The only other blood magick user aside from himself, loyal to him. She caught on,

"If we were able to get the creature into Outworld at the very least, you could control it." Skarlet voiced and he agreed, eating once she left to find a suitable ritual. His day once more was mundane but by nightfall on his first day of not-sleeping, she had found a ritual to perform on him to take his dark dreams in his steed. He submitted to it and she was just as happy to perform it as he was to be vacant of dreams.


	2. Chapter 1

**Ichor of Thy Ichor**

Chapter 1 - The Game

Skarlet had done her due diligence and researched the ritual well. In return for Shao Kahn casually walking the halls of his palace and filling his night hours of not-sleeping, she slept instead in an attempt to transfer whatever nightmares. She had been sleeping for sometime in his room while he was doing more paperwork to keep himself busy. When he had objected to the idea of her sleeping in his room, she advised that perhaps the creature tormented him by his attributes as well and probably used his bedroom as a sort of 'starting point'.

Ok, yeah, but how did that end up with the conclusion that Skarlet was asleep in his bed?

Neither here nor there, Shao Kahn couldn't bother himself with another dream sequence as he walked down the hallway towards his room. It would probably be fine if he picked her up and relocated her back to her own room. The probability? He was a Kahn not a damn mathematician, let someone else figure that out. His rambling thoughts were interrupted by a piercing scream coming from his room and he hastened his pace over to the double doors of his chambers, pushing them open to find Skarlet no longer in his bed, "It attacked me-!" She panted as Shao Kahn went over to her as Skarlet sat up next to his bed. Her ritual had been successful but not her skin was covered in burns that even her blood magic couldn't fight and she hissed in pain, "It was supposed to be a dream. It wasn't supposed ot be real." She continued to babble as Shao Kahn looked over the extent of the burns- before they began to recede. He pulled his hands away as the two watched the scorched skin heal itself- "I am not doing this!" Skarlet said but as it receded a strange, perfect line of foreign symbols and markings remained burned into her arm a minute longer. These, too, receded and vanished. They had belonged to another language entirely and he mentally counted the hours he had been awake so far. Thirty-six, so far. He sent her away to rest as he stood in his room trying to process the situation.

"**Your underling cannot stop the inevitable." **A voice chided him and Shao Kahn looked around the room. He alone was here and there were no others but the voice sounded clear and unbothered- as if they were unimpressed. They sounded as if they were right next to him- "**She will try… because she worships you… but I will exploit her devotion." **Shao Kahn checked every room of his chambers and the bathroom but there was nothing. No one was behind a cabinet or in his closet or one of his armor cabinets or behind even the fucking curtains. He was completely and utterly alone in his room. That did not stop him from dawdling the nighttime hours looking for a culprit. His underling rested through the following day and when the forty-eighth hour of being awake dawned on Shao Kahn he watched once more as the night fell outside the windows of his palace. One more night without nightmares for him, but what of Skarlet's ritual and her condition? He decided to go to check on her, not for her well-being but to secure his own. She seemed fine, if not… skittish.

There was a lack of the usual eye contact they had between them. She kept her distance from him in her spacious room, lined with shelves aside from a small bathing area and set aside vanity. She normally stood at his side. Even worse, she barely spoke above a mild tone of voice compared the the full, lustrus voice he had grown accustomed to. "Please, excellency… Go Away." Skarlet said as she held her head and looked toward, "She is watching. You have to leave…" She said in her mild tone before yelling abruptly, "No!" She snapped and shut her eyes tightly before backing away from him and Shao Kahn backed away too."I need to focus to get her out. I need to focus harder… no, no." Then he watched as she turned her own blood magic against herself and Shao Kahn shot forward and grabbed her wrists to wrench her hands away from herself. He needed her blood magic to keep himself safe, not to kill herself- "Stop, Excellency- its the only way! It's the only way to keep her out! Stop!" Skarlet screamed in hysteria and defiance as she struggled with him to free herself from his grip, writhing in his hold. Another abnormality- she was struggling with him, not working with him. She struggled against him and he struggled to come to terms with all of this. With the fact that something unseen was driving her mad. How was he supposed to put an end to an invisible assault?

"Skarlet, stop." He ordered and she struggled harder, "Enough, woman- I'll leave." Shao Kahn admitted and she kept her eyes closed but her struggling ceased, "Stay here." He ordered once more and eased his grip open to release her wrists but she did heed him this time and grabbed her own wrists, panting laboriously, as he backed out of the room and shut the door behind himself but remained to listen into the room as he looked up to see another underling-for-hire, Erron Black, walking up the hall. Probably to witness the commotion as Shao Kahn listened to the sounds of the room within. He listened to her strange babbling go from a feverish manic and yelling to a few words then to silence over the span of a few minutes as Erron stopped next to the door. After a minute of the silence he knocked on the door to her room, speaking her name and waited for some type of response. It happened in the form of a knock on the door back to him from within.

"I'm sorry." Skarlet said through the door as the two men looked at the door attentively, "I'm so, so sorry." There she was… his Skarlet, once more returned to him, even her voice was back to normal. For how long though? She was shaken, "You can't come in, Excellency. Please… She'll know where you are… I can't let that happen… Please believe me." Once more his fierce underling was gone and replaced with a shaken woman.

"Who is this woman you are speaking of?" Shao Kahn demanded and her reply came,

"The woman with the black-and-blue eyes." Skarlet responded honestly and clearly, "She's been looking for you, Excellency."

"Stop her then, Skarlet." He ordered and response and she let out an exasperated sob,

"I've been trying but I can't anymore…" Her voice said from the other side of the door, "My blood magic isn't working… I will keep trying…." Shao Kahn looked at Erron Black who met his gaze before his paying leader gestured to the door. Erron Black moved him and his dusty old-western garb in front of the door and it's adjoining wall before leaning back against the wall, "I'll keep trying, Excellency." She vowed and Shao Kahn nodded before ordering Black to guard the door and alert him if there was a change to her unforeseen condition, then he left for his own room.

As he left for his chambers his mind was troubled and he needed to contemplate the validity of his underling's words. She had never been one to lie to him, but she had been manic and broken so many of her normalities already. What had happened? Her ritual was meant to take only the dreams and that's when the being communicated him- but it attacked her and was causing her to act this way? He had always been the type of man who was better accustomed to physically dealing with something he could see and touch- where those things lacked him, then he lacked in accurate response as well. As he entered his own chambers he went to the bathroom, hoping that perhaps some splashing of cold water could help clear his sleep addled mind, so he turned on the sink. He needed to think as clearly as possible and he submitted to the task reluctantly as he removed his helmet and set it aside on the counter before bending over the sink basin at the waist, cupping his hands under the icy water flow and proceeded to splash his face. When he finished he turned the water off and looked at his reflection in the mirror to see any physical changed it may have done, if any at all. He wiped the water off his face as he scanned his reflection and saw the dark moons beginning to form under his eyes. When he raised a hand to touch the new additions to his visage and to validate their existence and residency-

A clawed hand jetted out from the mirror and grabbed him by the throat.


	3. Chapter 2

**Ichor of Thy Ichor**

Chapter 2

He could not remember when he did not notice it. The lack of sound. Not the sounds outside his castle, not the creaking of doors or windows or the soft tinkling of the curtain rings in his room upon their rods. Nothing. Not just 'nothing', it was just- void silence.

The clawed hand that grabbed his throat has surprised Shao Kahn, they nailed had pierced the thick flesh of his neck and had taken from him a yell of surprise and suppressed it to a strained gurgle of sound. He felt that and he knew there were supposed to be sounds- but there was nothing. Not even the familiar, glee-enticing, elastic crunch of his flesh's skin barrier being penetrated. He expected that strange voice to return but it did not, but his vision began to darken as he was choked- and the hand around his neck began to pull him towards the mirror. He put his palms against the wall to keep him from being dragged in further and it turned into a contest of brute strength between Shao Kahn- God in Outworld- and an unseen assailant but that wasn't the worst part. They were winning. In a desperately uncharacteristic move, he put his foot against the wall to free his right hand and went to grab the arm dragging him gradually closer as his own reflection moved naturally and gave no indication of the assailant or a problem.

His hand went through the arm. When he tried to pry the hand from his throat, his hand found his only his own flesh.

Then the glass of the mirror was shattered in three places and sound returned to his world as the counterface shattered and seemed to hinder the process. The clawed hand released his neck but not before ripping out chunks of his flesh and blood before retreating into the mirror, leaving Shao Kahn to gasp and cough for the air his lungs desperately needed, stumbling backward- Erron Black, coming into view. "You 'aight?" He inquired and Shao Kahn nodded affirmatively but spared a moment to look at the mirror. It was cracked where the bullets from Erron's guns had landed, but the frame was intact, "Sorry 'bout that." Shao Kahn moved forward and grabbed his helmet then left the room with Erron. When Shao Kahn asked why Erron had come to his rooms, Erron was simple in his explanation, "Skarlet took a turn, babbling about something having to do with you, someone finding Outworld and mirrors. Came to tell ya and you didn't answer, so I came in and saw all that." Black said, "Whatever it was sure did a number on your neck." Shao Kahn brushed his fingers against his neck respectively. Where the claws had snagged him now remained one-inch deep holes, cone-like chunks of flesh gone from what his invasive touching could tell… but the wounds were not bleeding. There was no squishy dampness of a fresh wound or ripe flesh. He went to check the time as well to find another oddity. Another twenty-four hours had passed. How was that possible? He had only seen Skarlet minutes ago… how had time passed so quickly? He needed to check on her… but he needed rest. Shao Kahn was once more, apprehensive to sleep but he needed the rest so after he checked on her to verify what Erron was telling him to sate his own paranoia, he returned to his room and laid down for sleep.

This time, the dream was different. The being he was connected to was looking through something, watching a familiar face- Skarlet. They were watching her sleeping. They felt her in a way Shao Kahn could not begin to explain, but this being could feel… everything. Just like its sight was heightened it seemed like its senses were too. Even from the distance, this being and Shao Kahn could feel… everything that Skarlet was right now. Everything she could ever amount to, every failure and every action she had ever taken… Shao Kahn could feel it all like… rippled on a water's surface. No, not ripples, that was too vast. It was… raindrops on a shallow puddle and the raindrops were Skarlet. Every part of her and this being was merely the puddle, collecting and growing with the volume. They intimately felt her deep exhaustion, down to her core and weakened… sapped of her strength. She had fought her hardest and he wondered only momentarily why he was feeling all this before these feelings receded.

It was telling Shao Kahn how it got in… and how he had no defense.

Then the claw appeared into the line of sight again and the being moved closer to whatever edge they were watching her from and grabbed the edge, pulling them self out as Shao Kahn lived the experience with them. They entered Skarlet's room from somewhere and then they walked towards her bed where she laid until they were standing over her. She didn't even notice. The clawed hand reached out and was a fraction of a second from touching her, perhaps to grasp her throat as it had Shao Kahn's, before pulling away as a knock arose at the door and Erron's voice echoed out- "Hey, you decent in there?" He called and waited a moment before opening the door and then being pulled away from her bedside and faced the entering male. They all looked at one another then Erron obliviously and completely walked past the being to check on Skarlet duteously but the door was left wide open. The being turned it's gaze to the door and walked through it and into the hallway, walking down the hallway calmly and casually before coming to the double doors that lead to a certain chamber. Shao Kahn's chamber. The hand moved towards the locked door but with a smooth wave, the locks clicked open and the doors parted to allow the being entry, the being walking in but looked back and watched the door shut before they looked forward. There were rooms upon rooms in his chambers so Shao Kahn wasn't too worried even if he inwardly shuddered at the deeply defiling, the gross feeling of knowing something was in his rooms. He continued to watch from the being eyes as it looked down the hallway as he expected it to aimlessly wander and meander, mentally preparing himself for relaxing- the creature instead, produced their clawed right hand. Under the long, black nails? Remained the chunks of flesh it has stolen from him. It turned its palm towards the floor and a singular drop of blood dripped on the ground. The floor glowed a pale, fluorescent blue before snaking forward and around corners to lead a path that he realized, led to his bedroom. The creature looked at its hands then down to its feet and Shao Kahn watched as they turned more human-like in an appearance before the being moved forward as he inwardly shuddered. It was making itself more 'presentable'. Then he saw himself from the being's eyes.

Shao Kahn's actual body was lying in his bed, tossing and turning restlessly, subconsciously trying to sever the connection with whatever this creature was- "That's right… you aren't strong enough." The voice confirmed, returning to torture him as they walked towards him then when they reached his bed they walked around it to the high-back headboard… to the back of it. Shao Kahn watched as their human-like hands reached out to the back of the headboard, smoothing over the strong wood, drumming their black nails against it momentarily -as if to test the solidarity of it- before scaling the intricate metal-and-wood headboard to hand over the edge and hover over his writhing form. "How much longer can you wait, I wonder?"

Shao Kahn once more woke up and broke the connection, drenched in sweat- but when he looked up towards the top of his headboard there was nothing to hover over him. A hand shot for his neck to feel for the impressions that had been left the night before. The wounds remained but they felt… wider, deeper than he remembered. He sat up from his bed and swung his legs over the edge towards the bathroom, briskly scanning the room and saw nothing immediate in regards to anything or anyone other than him being in the room. He saw the mirror in his bathroom, still damaged, only… the glass was shattered much more than it was when Erron Black shot it. Had it been that cracked before? He couldn't remember as the strange vision sequence began to fade from his memory along with a few of his actual memories, it seemed. Regardless, he got to his feet and was moments from peeling off his sweat-drenched clothes before the door opened and a familiar woman walked in with a tray of food.

Skarlet. Good, loyal, reliable Skarlet.


	4. Chapter 3

**Ichor of Thy Ichor**

Chapter 3

Skarlet was seemingly in good health as Shao Kahn watched her expertly balance the tray in her hands and quietly push the door to his chambers shut with the toe of her boot. She was slow to turn towards his bedroom down the hallway where the doorway to his bathroom was- then she saw him and smiled, "Excellency, you're up."

"You are as well." He returned as she came down the hall with the tray of food- a plate of breakfast and two glasses of something to wash it down with. Just as he liked it and just as she meticulously ensured he received.

"It has been two days, Excellency," Skarlett responded, "I have had a good amount of rest." Her tone was even and courteous as always but it was the time frame that inwardly jilted him. Two days? Two-fucking-days? She was unbothered as she handed him the tray of food and looked at his neck, "I've been making sure you've been well, but these wounds, Excellency… they're getting worse and they are not healing. They aren't infected, but they are deepening and darkening." So was his anger at this situation and he set the tray of food down on his bed before he gave her a hard look,

"Tell me everything you remember. You were babbling about mirrors and a blue-eyed woman and then I got attacked from a mirror." Shao Kahn said, disgruntled he was attacked in his own home. In his bathroom nonetheless. She nodded and took a deep breath,

"I remember… performing the ritual." Skarlet began, "I took your nightmares for the night. I saw a vision… no, it was a dream but it was almost as if I was reliving someone else's memories. There were children being killed… not in a way that I could derive pleasure from, Excellency they were sobbing and running, there was fire- and then it stopped and I saw her… but she wasn't really there. She had these… beautiful black-and-blue eyes that were black around the edges but she only had a silhouette, no actual body. Her voice was powerful and… arousing, I don't know, I was feeling so many different things." Skarlet said as she was trying to come to terms with it, "But then she spoke to me and she told me that all that I am is… fake, but my soul sings to her and she told me that I… I am enough and I am worthy to her… then she asked me who last invaded with the Mortal Kombat Tournament. I told her that We tried to invade Earthrealm and she was looking for you by name. I told her I didn't know you… that's when she attacked me, in the dream. She grabbed me by the throat but- she had no body- she called me a liar and then I caught on fire by her hand." Skarlet put a hand to her throat, "She forced her way into my mind and my memories- I woke up but she wouldn't leave my head, she wouldn't leave my body no matter how much I fought back by hiding you in my mind but she caught on and told me… that she was weak but I was weaker… when you came to my room she got into my eyes and I tried to fight her off then… I lost. Then she said she needed me to be a beacon."

"To bring an army?" Shao Kahn inquired and she stopped holding her head and looked at him,

"No… to guide her to the right place, I believe. Then she drained me and… vanished." Skarlet said and Shao Kahn nodded, "There was something… wrong with her… something restrained." Shao Kahn explained his latest dream sequence and needless to say she was further unnerved.

How does one combat something like this? A foe that attacked through the subconsciousness and mirrors? Was this more Earthrealm bullshit? Was this Raiden? Everything boiled down to Raiden, how could this not be him? "Give the order for all the mirrors in the Palace to be covered, starting with this floor." A temporary arrangement meant to stifle the threat or at least stall it momentarily. Perhaps it was connected to mirrors and they were the only way in? He tried to remember specific details as he watched Skarlet leave before taking off his clothes and walking to the bathroom- putting them over the mirror to cover it- so that he could bathe in peace. Once more he relied too-heavily on hot waters to ease his mood and his mind as he racked it for answers. Was there not something specific he could ask her to verify more than her vivid dreams and details? Now that he had time to think about it… there had been silence. Not just the lack of vocal response from the mirror-being or the mirror, but just silence. As if the sounds were absorbed to leave an eerie, vacancy of any sounds or noise at all and the bullets pierced that veil. The hand wasn't cold either. It was warm and soft but the nails were black. They felt curved but they anchored in hard before pulling away which would explain how the holes in his skin became (obviously) but the odd thing was- there was no pain. Almost void of feeling, these new wounds had become. They did not ache or throb, nor did they sting or burn. They merely existed quietly, only brought back to reality when mentioned by someone else. It dawned on him that the marks most likely weren't there to do damage, they were there to do what they did now- to mar him and imprint on him blatantly disrespecting him and his stature. They were bold as their creator- intruding his realm, then his personal space, and then his mind. How was one to feel safe when the creature so capriciously shattered his comfort zone? What was meant to be his sanctuary?

Another reason to find it and capture it, to submit the creature to his punishment and torture for its tactics.

He made sure to keep a distance as his minions worked, laying thick sheets over mirrors. He hadn't specified how long because he didn't know. If you asked him if he had a plan, he would tell you that he did. In reality, he had nothing to offer against an enemy that he could not physically touch. Shao Kahn was so many things but when it came to this, he was a simple man. If he didn't see or touch something, it didn't exist. This thing had an appearance that he saw. It had attacked him and wounded him. Nothing made it so perplexingly real yet so intangible. Once more he quietly sat in these thoughts as Skarlet once more looked at his wounds and tried to tend to his wounds but she shook her head, "The blood will not move towards the wounds, Excellency." She reported and he nodded thoughtfully, "Perhaps there is another ritual you know of to regenerate it? The wound isn't even trying to heal… almost like a frozen state of necrosis."

"Perhaps." Shao Kahn agreed and she backed up as he rose to his full height, "Let us check the library, Skarlet." He advised and she smiled, nodding. Honestly, he was somewhat relieved she that was back to herself as they walked side-by-side out of his chambers to the hallway and followed it down towards the library. He didn't express it outwardly for his feelings were his and his alone. They were to remain personal to him and his inward thoughts. As they walked, they walked past servants lining the walls on make-shift ladders to drape curtains over the mirrors lining the way- he had quite the intrigue in ensuring that he looked his very best and as formidable as he could be. One could call him; 'obsessed' with his own visage but that would be a lie as, to Shao Kahn, it would imply that he found all faults with himself acceptable. He did not. He had the slightest amount of Earthrealm-categorized 'body dysmorphia' in his opinion. His hips had the slightest amount of extra fat and skin he could not remove. Earthrealmers called them 'love handles' but Shao Kahn regarded them crossly as 'repulsive', so he went out of his way to tie his armor meticulously to cover these parts of him. The mirrors helped him feel rest assured that his armor hid these displeasing features and ensured Shao Kahn looked as good as he felt in his armor. They passed the workers and into the rest of the mirror-covered hallways that remained defiantly uncovered. "Are you unnerved by these mirrors, Skarlet?" He inquired for casual conversation as they transverse the very long hallway. The walls of mirrors ended and gave away to long windows of clear glass but Shao Kahn veered from the center of the hall to the left side of the hall with Skarlet on his right-hand side, since the hallway coming up on the left-hand side fifty-or-so-feet in front of them would lead them to the doors of the library.

"No, Excellency." Skarlet answered before looking at him, "But you should be."

There was a force from his side and Shao Kahn felt his body being shoved to the left towards the Windows. He caught the briefest glimpse of Skarlet as something pulled him backward and through a window-shaped-and-sized hole that was shrinking out of view- Skarlet stood just outside the threshold of the quickly shrinking window, a wicked smile on her lips.

Her eyes glowing black-and-blue before his entire world went black.


	5. Chapter 4

**Ichor of Thy Ichor**

Chapter 4

In the darkness, Shao Kahn heard voices- muffled, jumbled but talking freely from what he could tell. Speaking in a language that he did not recognize. One he didn't speak. He struggled to move or to open his eyes, his mouth- anything. His body screamed of soreness and defiance, every part of his was slow to register over the suffocating feeling of heaviness. What happened? The voices were seemingly unbothered with his struggle as the conversation carried on and he continued to struggle. There were two people primarily talking but sounded feminine but the language was gruff, full of short growls and short, punctual bursts of something caught between a predator's hiss and a roar. Despite the language's natural roughness, the conversation seemed calm.

"Kai'vathraq o'tal zevrathkahai?" One voice said but it sounded more of a questioning-tone than anything and another voice responded,

"Kal'vora knockt tey noi val'tacha. Su'quai nal vorei la lackerah." The other voice answered in a firm, authoritarian tone- then Shao Kahn managed to let out a groan, "Ouhual jetaz?" One voice asked and felt something… warm before what consciousness he had begun to wane and he desperately, mentally grabbed at it before he slipped back into the unfamiliar void of unconsciousness.

When Shao Kahn gained consciousness next once more his soreness greeted him but this time it was coupled with a throbbing pain of his whole body. He registered a headache as he managed to open his eyes to let them adjust to the darkness. Blurry at first, he groaned as his vision sharpened into clarity, and when it was fully restored he looked around. From what he could see he was in a room of dark wood and light stone floors with a doorway leading to a small room but he rolled onto his side then got onto his hands and knees- noticing he no longer had his gauntlets- then slid off the bed to put himself on his feet. His body was… light… and there was a faint light coming from the other room now. Using it to look around the room he noticed there was no furniture aside from a sizable bed he had risen from with simple bedding of a dark color but he went to the smaller room to investigate it. It was a bathroom with a singular toilet, a sink, and a mirror with a pale white light above it. Shao Kahn looked into the mirror and noticed his reflection before he noticed his outfit- and a strange symbol marked next to his right eye but when he reached up to wipe it off? It didn't budge. He looked down at his clothes and noticed he was no longer wearing his glorious armor. Then he saw his nails- they had been cleaned and trimmed to an appropriate length and they had been painted with black polish over his black nails… his toenails too. For what purpose? As he looked in the mirror, he saw the spines along his arms taken to next and he reached a hand up and ran his fingers along with them. They had been filed and polished when they had been jagged and rigid before- then he noticed the mask. He hadn't felt it before but he glanced in the mirror and saw it now. It spanned from his shoulders up to the bridge of his nose- his fucking eyebrows had been tripped and groomed too. What sick fuck would groom him while he was passed out? Then his outfit was… well, he looked like an expensive whore, honestly. Not to say the outfit wasn't comfortable as compared to being out of his armor.

It consisted of a backless bodysuit that connected around his neck over the bottom of the mask and went down to his ankles, snug in the chest because it actually covered the vast span, even if stretched, but it was opaque enough so it's struggling to grapple his girth was undetectable. The material was surprisingly breathable and flexible- he could comfortably lunge without any snugness in his groin area. Whatever it was, he hoped he could keep this at least to try and replicate for his own armor and wardrobe. As he looked in the mirror, he noticed the material was a dark navy with color to it- but when he moved in the mirror, he saw it had a sheer, greenish sheen to the fabric. Around his hips, held by a high-waisted band five inches in width of strapped, leather was a black skirt that covered his legs when he stood but they parted in the middle at mid-thigh length when he walked, moving behind him when he did so to keep from tripping on himself but the skirt itself was a sheer black material. His feet had been adorned in dark leather shoes that were more comfortable than his own. He looked like a whore but he felt like… an expensive, high-class one. Is this why the higher-class courtesans of some earthworld areas were so audacious and pompous? Because they were dressed like this and felt like this? He could clearly understand now. Shao Kahn looked back at the mirror and in the mirror above his head.

A pair of black-and-blue eyes opened up from the nothingness and he backed up, "**Hello.**" The voice returned,

"You!" Shao Kahn thundered and two arms smoothly produced themselves from the mirror- but their hands were held up to him, palms towards him, in peace. "No!" He snarled in response and swiped at them only for his hand to go through them again, "Why are you hiding in a mirror like a coward, fiend?!" He demanded,

"**I only did what was demanded of me… you'll see that.**" The voice replied calmly.

"Where is my armor, where is this place you have put me?" Shao Kahn demanded, "I am Kahn of Outworld, I will have my revenge!"

"**I brought you here. I can bring you back.**" The voice said, and the arms shrugged, "**But hey, I get it- You're king, your way or no way at all. Normally, it works… but it won't work here, Shao Kahn.**" The voice advised before the arms retracted into the mirror once more. He relaxed and watched the eyes warily as they blinked, "**Men are worthless here.**"

"Then why am I here?" Shao Kahn asked and the Voice replied calmly,

"**What's in it for me?**"

"What?" He demanded of the mirror-eyes and put his hand to his chest, "YOU attack me and my underling and torment me for so long, then kidnap me to another place and I AM supposed to pay YOU?" He snarled angrily and the eyes blinked with disinterest, "You put me in this situation."

"**OH, ok, so we're just going to gloss over the fact that it's not embarrassing or invasive for me- AT ALL- to have some asshole in a completely different, barbaric realm have unlimited access to my memories? Sorry, you're right, I forgot this was all about YOU, please… continue.**" The voice argued back as Shao Kahn stepped up to the mirror,

"Put me back in Outworld, this instant! I can't stay here dressed like a whore!" The Kahn of Outworld yelled at the mirror and the voice fired back defiantly,

"**So? Here, you have no power.**" The voice said and then added on somberly, "**Without my body, I can't return you. Come,**" One more the arms extended from the mirror, "**I'll heal you.**"

"What makes you think I would trust a creature hiding in a mirror that abducted me?"

"**Think about it, Shao Kahn. If I did what was asked of me- bringing you here- wouldn't it be counter-productive for me to kill you?**" The voice asked and he did think about it. He had no dreams… no nightmares. It was his first night without them in so long and while he thought, the arms folded, and he warily watched the arms as the mirror eyes watching him. He reached out and tried to touch the arm but once more passed through it. He did not want to admit the Mirror-Being was right but he looked at the set of eyes. They knew. They knew, that he knew, they were right. "**Tick-Tock.**" He stepped closer to the mirror and a hand reached out and rested against his forehead. The soreness and the pain faded away with his headache and the arms retracted once more. "**Ok, so here's the deal- you return me to my body, I'll send you back to Outworld.**"

"What's in it for me?" Shao Kahn asked and the voice groaned,

"**How's about I let you live in my world for a bit and let you decide, hm?**" The voice offered before a door opened in the room and the eyes closed and vanished- a giant woman with white armor entered the bathroom, the language he heard before rolled off her tongue and Shao Kahn hesitated. Surely she was a guard of some sort but she held some type of dark-colored rod. She stepped aside and gestured towards the rest of the room with the rod,

"I'm not going anywhere." Shao Kahn said and the female scowled before the rod became charged with an electric current, "I am the Kahn of Outworld-" The guard snapped something at him and pointed the rod at him and in retaliation he held up his hands to summon his hammer.

But nothing appeared. He tried again and the guard narrowed her eyes. Nothing. Imagine his surprise when he got electrocuted until he collapsed.

The Guard left the room and came back with another figure in similar garb and they both pulled him to his feet, secured his arms, and carried him out of the room and down a stone hallway, "Shak'Tzah vah Cutron voei Juvakah?" The newer guard asked as Shao Kahn groaned and the first one looked at their extra-help,

"Juvakah? Mu'thruk chkalu muv noocktehi." The first guard said in a nonchalant tone as they carried him down the hallway and he looked around. The dark wood carried throughout the hallways but their halls were illuminated with a soft white light. His consciousness swam in an out nauseatingly and it was a struggle to raise his gaze as they carried him but the floors had symbols carved into them and he couldn't help but think of the Mirror Being's words now that he had time to mull them over properly and he wasn't in the heat of the moment. Those black-and-blue eyes more into his soul, their words echoing in time with their blinks which were slowed in his mind. They didn't have a body, they weren't at their full power? If He helped them get their body he could return to Outworld? What did they mean by they had been forced? He has carried down a hall to the left and he lulled his head up to see a large room with a large table filled with food and their mixed aromas wafted towards him as waiters brought the food over and set the plates down. The guards sat him in a chair and Shao Kahn relaxed in it as they stood to flank the chair's sides, watching as Shao Kahn lifted a hand to his neck and rubbed it as the Guards shouted something and a surprisingly familiar creature walked towards him, in chains. A tarkatan- form Outworld- but he had a collar, matching wrist cuffs and ankle cuffs, all of some type of stone with glowing runes in it, wearing a simple garb of the beige color that covered him from his collarbone down to his ankles but this male tarkatan stopped close to the Outworld leader.

"I'm here as a translator." The Tarkatan said in his native tongue but looked to the guards and said something in their language but they only nodded briskly, then one let out a long spiel of foreign language but then gestured to Shao Kahn and the Tarkatan looked at him, "You are welcome to eat what you like, but you are not welcome to leave or they will electrocute you again."

"How did you come to be here?" Shao Kahn asked in his tongue and the Tarkatan nervously looked at one of the guards who raised an eyebrow at him and said something towards him curtly. The Tarkatan translated and the Guard looked at Shao Kahn before looking at the Tarkatan and nodded,

"I was acquired through conquest when one of the Dragons visited Outworld… who is the Kahn of Outworld now?" The Tarkatan asked and Shao Kahn revealed he was Kahn of Outworld, making the Tarkatan stiffen, "I- Onaga was Kahn when I was acquired… he had been ruling only for a few millennia." What? It had been Eons since his reign had ended and since Shao Kahn had risen to power- how was that possible? "You need to eat while you can. It might be the last time." The Tarkatan said and then looked at the Guards and translated-

"Why do you keep talking to them?" Shao Kahn demanded and the Tarkatan hesitated,

"I have to show I'm trustworthy or they'll kill me again… I've already displeased my Dragon..." The Tarkartan said and advised, "It's best if you just comply, they don't take kindly to disobedience from males." One of the guards snapped at him and he once more began translating before bowing and leaving from Shao Kahn's view. The Kahn yelled for the being to return but only earned himself another round of electrocution from the guards until he shut up completely and sat in his chair numbly. When the numbness subsided he looked over at the table to see what was offered and saw there was an empty plate before him and utensils. The platters on the dark table were full of familiar and unfamiliar foods- but the trays were only being brought in by men in similar form as the Tarkatan. Simple garbs and collars with cuffs, but they didn't make eye contact or speak to Shao Kahn. They were focused on their tasks solely; bring in the platters, set them down, balance them perfectly even if they had to walk a bit slow, they tend to the meats and cut them up while the Guards surveyed and observed. They acted almost as if Shao Kahn wasn't there and he was not accustomed to that. He was accustomed to people paying attention to him and serving him on hand-and-foot, always trying to speak to him or hold his attention not to ignore him. It was strange and unfamiliar. As He was wondering this, a creature with wings walked into his line of vision- it looked female with short, curly dark hair and dark eyes- but two large wings were behind it, folded in restful, station army position behind their pale orange dress. They didn't say anything, they just looked him over like a piece of meat then aid something in the language to the guards and conversed with them as Shao Kahn rose to his feet and grabbed his plate. They watched him as he picked things from the platters of roasted, tantalizing meats and ripe fruits, served to him at moderate portions by different races and species of males who did not look at him.

"Who gave you that make on your eye?" A sharp-voiced asked him as a servant finished putting a thick slice of roast on his plate and he looked back to see the winged-figure looking at him, "What did they look like?"

"I woke up with this." Shao Kahn answered and the woman scowled, hissing something to the guards before they bowed and left, "What does it matter?" The short-haired woman looked back to him as he set his plate down and sat back down, "It's not a big deal." The Guards backed up as the dress-wearing being narrowed their eyes,

"The mark you bear under your eye, Male, is the mark of a being against our Holy Empire's existence and it's ruler, the Holy Empress- it is the mark of someone aligned with a traitorous, locust-plague of a being, who goes against the Holy Throne." The short-haired figure said and slammed their fist down on the dark table. The wood rippled and splintered under the food and across the whole table, servants scrambling to grab platters to keep them from falling off or through the table as it broke, "What have you to say now, male? Tell me who marked you! Who dressed you as Juvakah of the House of the Twelfth Dragon!?" He didn't even know how to respond. Was he supposed to be angry that he was in some other world going against someone else's rules when he didn't even know the rules? He didn't even know what was going on. What was supposed to be done or said? The Tarkatan mentioned a Dragon and here this being was mentioning it too and some other strange things. Everything was strange and foreign to Shao Kahn here and he had to remind himself that his hammer had not answered his call. Wherever he was, it was not the place to be testing his surroundings and not be able to do anything- but this being hadn't actually attacked him. Could it even do so? He had been electrocuted and the guards had dragged him here… but the Voice's words rang true. He had no power here. He had to be careful. The figure pulled away from him, fuming by their reddened face, but they whipped around and walked off from him as quickly and abrasively as they had approached him and spoke to him. He carried on and ate his food, standing when he had finished and put the plate down, then the Guards walked away- stopping to look back at him to see if he would follow their lead and he begrudgingly did so. Where he was going, he didn't know but he passed the Tarkatan on the way towards a large pair of open doors.

The Tarkatan glimpsed up at him briefly, watching him as if Shao Kahn was the last glimpse of hope he had for something different- but the emotion flickered across his eyes only a fraction of a second before a solemn acceptance set in once more, looking away to break their eye-contact.

He was lead through the door which was pushed open for him, down a stone hallway and to a massive, long room- at its end, a throne, with a figure on it. As Shao Kahn looked around, this room also had marble floors, red and gold drapery and curtains, but was full of women. Seas of women flanking the room behind huge columns that held up the ceiling and held thick, drawn back curtains of red and gold damask- they were gorgeous. All the women he saw were beautiful with only the occasional plain-looking one but he enjoyed the view. They dressed loosely if not elegantly; robes of gauzy, sometimes sheer fabric with gold and silver trinkets, accessories, earrings, and necklaces. They were speaking softly to themselves in the soft, charcoal black shadows of the curtained areas- but they were all watching him. Something he also noticed among the women outside of their shiny hair and their radiant complexions- few bore facial markings. Many of them had circlets with different colored tassels and differing amounts. One woman could have two tassels, one blue and one pink, over her left ear and the woman she spoke to next to her could have seven all different colors. They watched him but when he looked back to make eye-contact- their curious and excited gazes turned to scowls and curled lips of disgust. What was that? Why did they react this way when, clearly, they were speaking of him? He enjoyed the women but only stopped following the guards when they arrived within several feet of the throne and the guards stopped to flank him as he looked at the woman on the throne- if you could call her that. The throne itself had a peacock fan of heavy gold feathers, gems and steel swords behind the throne where the female sat but the female herself looked… barely old enough to be a woman, but she had a female is a black cloak that was hemmed with gold etchings, who had mousey brown hair and a red dress on underneath.

Her hair was long, pure spun gold that cascaded over the throne, her front, and the sides of the throne and ended somewhere Shao Kahn could not see. Her dress was red and long, spilling over the twelve steps that were before her and between her and Shao Kahn but it was almost inappropriately cut down the middle of the dress's front, down to below her navel, her bony sternum on display. If she had any breasts to her name, she could have filled the dress out and looked quite ravishing but she was flatter than a tone-deaf singer. Her eyes were a vibrant slice of pure silver and she regarded him with disdain but she put on a smile and waved her hand at the woman next to her. The cloaked-woman proceeded to descend the staircase steps and the Guards grabbed Shao Kahn and forced him to his knees as the woman produced a long necklace of strange beads, ending in a strange, reflective medallion. The woman stopped before him and lifted the back of the necklace up, looking him in the eyes and saying something in the strange language and he stayed still as she put the necklace around him and his neck before backing up and stepping away from him. "Can you understand me?" The woman asked and he looked up at her,

"Yes." He answered and she smiled as she walked back to the throne side, the woman on the throne giving him a tight smile, "You stand within the Throne Room of the Holy Empire of D'Requah and you stand before the Holy Empress Kah'Zujzhaka, One-hundredth-and-fifty-ninth of her title, forty-second of her lineage, and First Empress of the Second Era." The woman said regally and then addressed herself, "I am Archiver Kora, one-hundred-and-ninety-eight of my lineage." The Empress sat up in her chair,

"Allow me to cut to the chase- I need you to enter me and my realm into the process you call 'Mortal Kombat' so that I might conquer realms with the strength of my Dragons, since they now lack the ability to transverse realms and worlds since they sealed the traitorous Twelfth Dragon-" The Empress said and pointed to the ceiling, Shao Kahn looking up. A huge dragon spanned the entire ceiling of the room, held up by chains. He had thought it was a chandelier because its scales were clear and reflective like mirrors, "So my Empire needs access to the Mortal Kombat so that we may expand and conquer."

Wait… what?

* * *

A/N: The language is not meant to make sense, It's just jibberish. I do apologize if some of those words are actual language words and mean anything offensive, I meant for them to be jibberiish. Please let me know and I will edit them.


	6. Chapter 5

**Ichor of Thy Ichor**

Chapter 5

Shao Kahn stood in this huge throne room, in this strange world with its strange matriarchy, it's slave-system, it's holier-than-thou feel and it's anti-male architecture. He looked up at the ceiling as he tried to process all this as he stared at the dragon tied to the ceiling, used as a fucking chandelier. He was trying to determine if this was really happening. In its mirror-like scales, he saw his own reflection, albeit far off, but he saw it and the reflection of everyone and everything in this room, even if the creature was strung up like this. Four legs, outstretched and two massive wings, so big they had to be curved inward to fit into the room. The webbing in them was some type of thin, reflective membrane. It looked like someone had frozen it in time, mid-flight or mid-leap. What the fuck was going on. "I don't understand." That's all he could manage before he looked back at the Empress and the Archiver- the former looking at the latter and asking,

"What part do you think he doesn't understand?" The Holy Empress asked and the Archiver looked back at her,

"He is a male, Your Holy Excellency… so most likely, all of it." The Archiver responded bluntly as Shao Kahn narrowed his eyes before the Archiver looked at him, "What are you called on your world?"

"I am Shao Kahn, Kahn of Outworld, Conquer and ruler-" He said but the Empress held up a fair, tawny brown hand and said,

"So your title is Shao Kahn, but what is your name?" The Empress insisted and he tried again,

"No, My title is Kahn and my name is Shao… Shao Kahn." He responded and she looked confused,

"So… your title is your last name and your whole name?" The Empress asked, puzzled and he sighed,

"No my name is Shao, but my 'title' is Kahn of Outworld, therefore I am Shao Kahn... Kahn of Outworld." Shao Kahn explained and she looked even more confused and he tried again, "Kahn is the reigning title of Emperor of Outworld-"

"Wait, wait, I think I've got it." The Holy Empress said and he stopped, "You are Shao but you are Emperor of Outworld, who goes by Kahn- therefore you are 'Shao Kahn' because you are… the Emperor?" He nodded in confirmation, "...So… Why is your title Shao Kahn instead of Kahn Shao? Archiver Kora says your world was also, at one point, ruled by a being known as 'Onaga' the Dragon King. If he was the ruler of Outworld, why was HIS name not 'Onaga Kahn'?"

"...That's not how it works." Shao Kahn answered, "The title goes after the first name… I can't answer for Onaga, I'm not Onaga. Why are you the 159th of your title but only 42nd of your lineage? First Empress of the Second Era, what is that even?" The Holy Empress looked both insulted and baffled,

"I am the 159th Empress and the 42nd of my lineage, but I'm the First Empress of the Second Holy Empire-"

"How are you the 42nd of your lineage?" Shao Kahn asked and she looked like she was struggling to come up with an answer,

"Because I am the 42nd Empress of the 159th Empress's dynasty." The Empress said sharply but he voiced his confusion, "Here, succession goes by offspring- so my ancestor was the 159th Empress, and I'm her 42nd descendent and the line will continue in her name until her blood is diluted, then a new Holy Empress will be selected until HER blood is diluted." She said as if it was common sense. Maybe to these fuckers but not to Shao Kahn,

"Ok, so succession is done through family and genetics rather than strength?" Shao Kahn asked and the Holy Empress slammed her fist down on the arm of her throne and thundered,

"ENOUGH! I am not going to continue explaining myself to a damn male, of all things!" The Empress snapped angrily and looked at the Archiver, "Archiver Kora, take him to the Hall of Murals and teach him our Holy History so we might avoid this in the future, then take him to…" The Empress looked at him then looked him up and down, "Take him to the Twelfth Dragon's palace since he wears the Juvakah outfit- send someone to clean it up, I suppose… the Sixth Dragon." The Archiver nodded and descended the steps once more, approaching him and gesturing for him to follow, leading him to a hallway past the heavy curtains, lined with torches of pale blue fire.

"So Titles are passed through the family?" Shao Kahn asked and the Archiver looked at him,

"Titles of Archiver Kora and the Holy Empress, yes as they are important titles." Archiver Kora said as he blinked, "Though all title-holders except the Dragons are allowed their names and gender." She led him to the left and he followed but before he could ask any more questions she led him into an equally immersive hall as the throne room- but it was lined with dark-wood bookshelves, floor-to-ceiling in height with several floors within it. All operated by busy female attendants, all wearing black and gold cloaks like Archiver Kora was. They veered to the right and he looked around as he followed her. There were books and scrolls, moving freely and relocating themselves, moving here and there through the air freely, he spotted the occasional female lifting her hands in the air to use magic and guide things to their destination. "Here is the Hall of Murals, depicting the History of the Second Empire and it's making." She voiced as Shao Kahn was lead into a room, massive and oval-shaped with a dome-ceiling. From the left of the doors and almost completely around were paintings of images with no words or context, speckled with gems and shimmering paintings, depicting grows and figures, wars and destruction, peace and famine. He looked up to the ceiling and saw it painted with 12 figures, all inlaid with precious stones, metals, and gems.

He saw the Summer Woman first- depicted with copper and bronze hair and eyes of fire opal, from the dreams.

She was reaching out and touching a figure in the center. Then he saw the other female of his dream-visions, the blonde woman whose hair was made of gold and had laurels of bronze, tiger's eye stones for eyes; her hand touching the woman in the center as well. Then he saw the navy-skinned man, his skin inlaid with deep blue lapis lazuli, long dark hair of onyx and pearl inlay for his eyes and long, curved horns; his hand touching the woman in the center. The woman in the center?

She had smoky quartz inlaid for hair, but her eyes? Black-and-blue, opals lined with pitch-black paint and they took over the whites of her eyes so the blue opals swam in darkness. They were the same eyes he had seen in his visions, the same Skarlet had when she pushed him, the same in the mirror.

"Let's begin." Archiver Kora said, "Our planet was created by the Worldmaker; They created the first eleven Dragons to protect us from invasions and conquest. He instructed them to heed by the Holy Throne and its Empresses. Each able to transcend time and realms for conquest; to strike the first strike to protect our world." Well… Shao Kahn had heard worse plans for world domination. "However, during the era of the last empress- the 158th Empress- Civil War erupted between the Dragons that ensnared the Holy Empire in its midsts-"

**"Wow, ok, first off that's bullshit because that's not what happened."** The Voice said snarkily in Shao Kahn's mind and he blinked but the Archiver wasn't paying attention as she leads him along the left wall and continued to speak,

"The Empress appealed to the Worldmaker to give them an end to the Civil War and bring peace- but at the same time, the Dragons also appealed to the Worldmaker for justice and guidance-"** "Yeah, no, they asked to stop being enslaved as beasts of war."** "The Worldmaker, displeased with the Empire for not communicating with the Dragons and not coming to an agreement, told the Empress he would give the world one last Dragon to bestow the world with judgment absolute. That dragon would be the one there-" The Archiver pointed to the woman in the middle of the ceiling, "The Twelfth Dragon."

"Who are those?" Shao Kahn asked as he gestured to the figures touching the woman on the ceiling and the Archiver continued,

"Juvakah of the Twelfth Dragon… The Third, Fifth and Eight Dragons… the Worldmaker broke his own rules to show the extent of his displeasure with the War." The Archiver looked to Shao Kahn who looked back to her, "To be a Dragon, one must be worthy and sever all ties to be neutral. Dragons are to belong to no gender, no species, no House and relinquish their names- their most important possession; but through conquest, they may acquire the Juvakah- concubines of war to be used as tools and weapons to dispense the will of the Dragons and their judgment… but the Twelfth Dragon was created from a woman who was Juvakah to the Third, Fifth, and Eight Dragons-"

"Wait." Shao Kahn interrupted, "If Juvakahs can only be acquired through conquest, how come three Dragons had one concubine?" Archiver Kora looked at him guiltily,

"Well… Honestly, we cannot find a record of how it came to be… we only have a record that the woman was a Juvakah to all three Dragons when the Worldmaker made her the Twelfth Dragon but we can't find anything in the Archives of her prior…. Anyways, it was the Twelfth Dragon who appointed the first Archiver Kora to begin recording history from there on, and made the title of Archiver the third highest title under the Dragons and the Empress."

"...Your name is not Kora?" Shao Kahn asked and the woman frowned,

"No… my name is Errin… My title is Archiver Kora." She answered as she leads him to the next section of the mural, "We too are not allowed gender, but our descendants inherit the title. Let's continue." She said dismissively, "When the Twelfth Dragon came into creation, they ended the Civil War of the Dragons by commanding them to fall in order or die. Some records indicate that the Worldmaker gave the Twelfth Dragon mirrors for skin, to show the Empress how her actions looked. No verification, though." The Archiver said but Shao Kahn verified this information with the Voice mentally and he found it respond,

**"More or less, yeah."**

"The Ninth Dragon challenged the Twelfth Dragon for the right to continue their war… for his insolence, the Twelfth peeled off his skin and declared an end to the war. With its title-sharers, the Twelfth Dragon ruled justly until the Last War, which was between the Holy Empire and the Dragons." She said and gestured to the walls that Shao Kahn looked at to see a beautiful depiction of a pyramid of shimmering, painted dragons- the top two rows slightly segregated from the rest. The top of the pyramid held the depiction of a dragon made of mirrored shards, the three dragons beneath it? Copper, gold, and onyx. A sense of melancholy overcame him, looking at this depiction and he felt… somber. He was lead to another painted image of the mirror-shard dragon laying across some-type of painted structure like a lethargic sphinx, the other dragons in their different colors looking at it, some with jaws open, others just looking at it. "Though Dragons are ageless they complained to the Twelfth Dragon that they no longer wished for the Holy Empire exist." The next image depicted the mirrored dragon standing across from a woman with copper hair and a red-and-gold dress, "The Empress grew tired of the Twelfth Dragon telling her the complaints of the others, and so began the Last War-" It sounded like bullshit,

**"OH, ok, so they just 'forgot' to include the fact that they killed my children and children of the other Dragons? Awesome, I'll remember that."**

The next painted image depicted the previous copper-haired woman in red garb holding a shield and a sword, the mirror dragon flying above and raining down onyx-and-sapphire flames speckled flames upon her- the other dragons divided between the two in a face-off battle. On the side of the mirrored dragon were the copper, gold, and onyx dragons along with three other dragons but one was painted with a clay-red paint. "The Dragons divided and more sided with the Twelfth Dragon, It was not shimmering and lustrous like the others. He was led to the back wall of the room which held a single, massive painting. The mirrored dragon, hovering over destruction and chaos- shambled of buildings and their ruins, saturated in a black fire, bodies piled high under it… in the piles were the painted images of the copper, gold, and onyx dragons… Shao Kahn remembered this scene from his dreams. He remembered the anger and the pain rippling through him like the vibrations of a war cry, the sheer arrogance of the copper-haired woman. He was led to the last wall right bordered and connected to the right side of the door, another painted scenery showed the dragons attacking the mirror dragon, "In a last-ditch attempt to keep history from repeating itself, the dragons sacrificed their abilities to transcend the universe and the cosmos to seal the Twelfth dragon between them. In the void of limbo." The painting afterward depicted such a scene- the leftover dragons once more divided to show two dragons carrying a clear-glass dragon towards an onyx-and-amethyst hole while the other dragons held down a roaring mirror dragon. The mural afterward was mid-sketch, unfinished and yet to be determined with very light, unsure strokes. "That's where you come in, Shao Kahn of Outworld."

"Your world's tragic backstory has nothing to do with me, nor does it benefit me." He said bluntly and defiantly, Archiver Kora frowned, "You, your Dragons, and your rules have no play to my ambitions."

"The Holy Empress brought you here because you can transverse worlds… we have been told so." The Archiver said, "You teaching the Empress to transverse worlds will be beneficial to us and I'm positive that the Empress will make it beneficial to you- now, for social etiquette." She said as she walked out of the room and Shao Kahn followed. "As you might have noticed- it is not common for a male to be so… free to roam as you are. That is, primarily, because whoever put you here in this world? Put you in the traditional outfit of a Juvakah and marked you with the symbol of the Twelfth Dragon near your eye. In short, you are claimed as Juvakah to the Twelfth Dragon. Whether you are claimed, or not, is up for debate but until it is confirmed, you will rarely be disturbed."

"Because of the high position of my title?" Shao Kahn asked and she gave a half nod,

"That, and because it is a superstition that you are believed to be some type of omen." The Archiver voiced, "You hold the highest position possible for a male, however, you are still an outsider and a second-class-citizen. Your worth is only that much of your Dragon's, as Juvakah are one and extension of their bonded partners." The female said as she led him through the hall back to the records room of bookshelves and floating articles, "You are not to speak to other males nor are you to speak to females unless spoken to, you are not allowed to eat unless invited to the table and your opinion is allowed to be given only when you are asked for it. You are not to approach anyone, as a male is only to reciprocate what is given to you-" A dragon flew into the archives room and work around them came to a screeching halt as this dragon landed before the two of them- it was missing the skin, muscle and flesh of it's head down to its sternum, but the rest of this creature was a cement gray and its eyes which remained were a burning gold, "Kneel and bow." The Archiver hissed at Shao Kahn as she bowed at the waist to the creature while it folded its wings, easily spanning fifty feet on each wing. "Your Excellency Ninth Dragon, I was not expecting you."

"I will escort the Twelfth Dragon's Juvakah to their keep." The creature said and its mouth moved as it spoke but its words echoed over the soft sounds of bones clicking and creaking, the light clacking of teeth when its jaw closed, "You are dismissed, Archiver Kora." The Dragon voiced and she nodded, reluctantly leaving the room as the Dragon lifted a smooth tail and slashed the air next to them, creating a portal in the form of a rip in time and space, "Through the portal, Juvakah." Shao Kahn opened his mouth to deny him but the Voice arose,

**"Don't worry, he won't hurt you."** How could the voice be so sure? **"Honestly, he's a pussy, that's why. Get in the portal."**

Shao Kahn compiled and walked towards the rip and stepped through it- stepping into yet another stone-floored area. Except for this time, he seemed to be standing in some type of circular entryway before a castle, bigger than his palace, made of dark stone. There were stone beds that looked like at one point they could have been flowerbeds, but now they held withered, fragile, decaying wines and branches that couldn't bear fruit or greenery if they tried. In the center, a pale tree reached to the skies and wafted in the heavy winds, the smell of rain and seawater in the air. In the distance, Shao Kahn heard the foreboding roll of deep thunder, but the creature walked forward on all fours past Shao Kahn and towards a massive set of pale grey doors. The dragon itself on all fours, stood perhaps ten or twelve feet from clawed hand to shoulder, but the doors stood easily three times that- thirty, maybe thirty-five feet tall and fifty feet wide. The creature propped itself easily onto its hind legs and walked as any man would to the door, putting its hands on the wood before symbols began to glow underneath his hands. From the center, outward the symbols thrummed to life with a pale purple glow before several heavy clinking and mechanical sounds arose into the tormented air and the doors opened, "It's… dirty, I'm afraid." The Ninth Dragon said as it looked back at Shao Kahn before it walked inside, "I will send my own slaves to tend to it. I think… the guest room was around here somewhere…" The Ninth Dragon mumbled, mostly to itself, as it slowly entered the home and Shao Kahn followed it,

"It there a reason as to why I feel as if no one can give me a straight answer?" Shao Kahn demanded and the Ninth dragon turned it's boney head towards him, "Why did you escort me here?" The Ninth Dragon looked around the inside of the castle and waited until Shao Kahn entered behind it before pulling the heavy doors shut and locking them- locking both itself and Shao Kahn in. The symbols re-appeared and the sounds arose once more, heavy thumps and booms signaling that they were now locked in before the Ninth Dragon got back on all fours to look at Shao Kahn,

"This newest Empress is not keen on… honesty." The Ninth Dragon answered, "Allow me to reintroduce myself… I am Valros, the Ninth Dragon, and I'm in the midst of conspiring against the Holy Empire. The Tarkartan slaves say that Mortal Kombat is a process which is used for conquest… so, I'd like to ask you to conquer this world."

"I thought you were not allowed names?" Shao Kahn said before he added, "Why would you want me to conquer this world?" Valros closed its jaws and tapped its claws on the stones before looking around and spotting something at the other end of the hall, "I am fucking talking to you-"

"I know, I know, I hear you but… it's rather hard to explain." Valros explained before looking back at him, "Ok, so…. Uh, I'm not… So, when we were created, the first Eleven Dragons, we have a bit of a 'safety-clause' if you will, in which we can't attack nor deny the Throne… but when the Twelfth Dragon came into being, they found a loophole and killed the Empress, so like… we want history to repeat itself. I don't know, it sounds stupid to an Outsider, right? It... " Valros shuffled anxiously, "It makes a lot more sense when the Twelfth Dragon explains it…" Then he turned away from Shao Kahn and trotted down a long hallway and took a sharp left, Shao Kahn running after him and following him down, "Great! They didn't find this one!" Valros called from another room, "This way, Outsider!" He called gleefully and Shao Kahn looked around. The halls were enormous and riddled with damaged furniture, destroyed tapestries, smashed columns and demolished entrances. Someone had gone out of their way to do as much damage as possible here- but there was flaking blood against the walls and the floors. Something had happened her but he found the Dragon at the other end of a long hall, on its hind legs and clawing at something in the ceiling then before pulling then yank at the something as Shao Kahn drew closer, "So the Twelfth Dragon? BIG admiration for all sorts of things puzzle-like, riddle-based AND-" They pushed their claws into the ceiling with a happy snort and a click arose in the silence, before they dropped down to all fours and a mirror lowered itself from the ceiling on tired, defiant hinged and mechanical trappings, turning as it lowered to face them it it's clouded gaze, "- Hidden trinkets like this one." Valros finished and lifted their tail, cleaning off the mirror,

"What the fuck does your politics have to do with me other than Mortal Kombat? I can only invade through the Tournament." Shao Kahn voiced and in the mirror, once more the black-and-blue eyes opened- "Ah… so you are the Twelfth Dragon?"

**"Yes… and no."** The Mirror Eyes responded and Valros backed up and bowed deeply to the mirror, **"I am just myself until I am returned to my body. Then I will be Twelfth Dragon once more..."** The Voice said before giving a heavy sigh and the Mirror Eyes rolling, **"As I should be."** The Voice was heavy with sarcasm and begrudging acceptance then they looked at the Valros, **"And you? I gave you a name and you double-crossed me and helped that audacious Mortal Empress to force my hand."** Valros raised his head and looked at the mirror eyes, **"Perhaps I mistook your masochism for cowardice… Next time, I shall leave you bare-boned."**

"I- She-... I have no excuses… I'm sorry. I can make up for it." Valros grumbled and the eyes narrowed to give him a withering glare and he looked away before they looked back at Shao Kahn, "The Outsider will-"

**"Shao Kahn, I am aware that politics are not your… prerogative. However, should you assist in returning me to my body, I will teach you magic to absorb the souls of the Dragons in this world, should you succeed in invading by Mortal Kombat… for example, Valros here has power over the dead."**

"And your power?" Shao Kahn asked and the Mirror Eyed blinked,

**"Get me my body? I'll give you a demonstration."** The Mirror-Eyes answered,

"Why did your Dragons attack the Empire?" Shao Kahn asked, "The truth."

**"The Worldmaker gave these humans Dragons and they did as humans do… they enslaved them and used them as war machines to attack one another. Valros wanted equality from the Holy Empire- so they fought for it."** The Mirror-Eyes answered, **"The Dragons cannot turn against their masters… so, they did the next best thing. They turned their talons against one another. Equalists against Throne-Loyalists."**

"And you? Your memories showed you killing the Empress." Shao Kahn voiced, "If Dragons cannot turn against the Throne, how could you?"

**"A clever trickery by our malevolent Worldmaker- He named the Eleven Dragons from beings of this world. He created me from a Juvakah, namely an Outsider- someone who doesn't belong to this world-"** "So that the rules of this world need not apply since you were not part of this world." Shao Kahn finished and the voice replied, **"Correct, but no one takes kindly to a cheater."**

"So you were able to kill the Empress… why stop there?" Shao Kahn asked and the Voice replied,

**"What makes you think I stopped there?"**


End file.
